The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 184

t.hat 1,e :ire t,, sttnin unto the :same" degree'' of faith. For in our ultimate st.nte there will be differences in the d~"'Tee of faith, which is only to sny that there will be differ- ences i_n ch~cter (no factor t~erein being more important than faith). But, at the same time, 1t 1s true that all will come to a full-or'bed faith, that all will have clearly brought out the grand characteristics of faith which a.re only dimly seen now. A<rain, it is true that all Christians have, to begin with, "one knowledge," the one pra;tical knowled~e of the Son of God. In our ultimate state, too, we shall vary in our capacity of knowmg the love of Christ and appreciating the bearings of his work. But there is a full, rounded, satisfying knowledge to which we shall all come. In our present advancement our faith is not sufficient to exclude unbelief. We can only say "LorJ, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." But our ultimate will be the expulsi~n of all unbelief. Our knowledge, too, is not so much one as to exclude all differences of opinion. But the unity with which we shall end will be one in which we shall see eye to eye, from which all difference of opinion will be excluded. (fJ) Goal clw,racte:riud as thefvll-groum man. "Till we all attain . . . unto a full-grown man." In apposition with the foregoing, it is said (changing from the abstract to the concrete)," till we all attain . . . unto a full-grown man." We have just seen that there is a unity with 1,bich we begin and another unity with which we end. Here it is implied that there is a state of infancy with which we begin and a state of manhood with which we end. And the goal here, too, is purposely viewed as a unity; for it is not said, "full-grown men," but "a full-grown man.• We must, howeTer, in order to this unity being attained, become i::J.div:idnally full-grown men. And that suggests how much there is before Ch.rk-tians rise from the babe state np to the state of manhood. What a disparity in bulk, rtatnre, strength, and generally in development, between the babe and a man in his prime l \\"" e can mark the increase that takes place from year to year. And so there is a goal of spiritual manhood, far away from the point where a man :first believes in Christ. There are possibilities of attainment before us which we are slow to realize. God shows us in the l{ly how rapidly we may grow, and in the r,ed,a,rs of Lebanon how deep-rooted we may grow ; in the plane tree he shows us how widespreading we may become, and in the olive tree how productive; in the lily aud olive, too, how beautiful we may become, and in the pine forests what a healthfulness and pleasantness there may be abont UB. Here he teaches us the lesson of growth from the human body. ·when we see how a child is growing up, let us think how there should be a parallel to that in our spiritual life. ( -y) Goal set before us in Oltrist. " Till we all attain ... unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." If it was the abstract first, and . then the concrete, it is now particularly the historical. It is a matter of infinite con- • eequence that the goal for humanity has been reached by the representative Man. He has carried us, representatively, forward from our infantile state to our state of man- hood. We ca?:1 see before the throne, or on it, a representation of what by the inwork- inz of Dirine grace we are to become. Let us think of the character which he wrought out for us on earth. and as love is so mnch introduced by the apostle, let us think of that character as formed into its beauty under the formative principle of love. There is in C'hrist the rer,resentatiun of CO'fttemplative love. He contemplated whatever the Father showed him in nature, in human life, in the Holy Scriptures. In the stillness of his soul be communed with God through these, and these melted into him, they swallowed up bis being. And as a consequence, w~at the world ~bowed Jiim was exposed to his mind, and could not pollute him. And 1f we are to attam tofu.l stature in Christ, we mnst keep sabbath in our souls, we 1?1-ust keep out ~he distraction of the world we must look upon and appreciate those glorious truths which, through the age's, God by bis servants and his own Son has been setting before us. There is in (Jhrist tlie representation of active love. He was more than the perfect man of the mystics ; he presented also the side of activity. He felt that he had a blessing to impart to men; and all his energies must be strained that the blessing should not be withheld. "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." And if we are to be of full stature in Christ, our inertness must be rebuked, our holy energies must be called forth. We must know what it is to" work," aud, while working, let us take care that our works are " wrought in God/' There is in Chriot the representation of BUffering wve. If Christ could be ~aid to excel in one class CJf vinues more than in another, it was in the passive virtues. He sulTcre<l what Wllll  Cll. IV. 1-32.] THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE EPHESIANS. 183